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Short vowel spelling
Short vowel spelling consists in the spelling patterns that very often, but not always, represent the so-called short sounds of the vowel letters, as in trap /æ/, dress / /, kit /ɪ/, lot /ɒ/ ɑː , and strut /ʌ/. When "a", "o" and "u" are not stressed they sound schwa /ə/. When "e" and "i" are not stressed, they sound /ɪ/ or /ə/. In their shortest form these patterns are VCC and VC#, where V is a single vowel, C is a consonant and # is the end of the word. This means that a short vowel spelling is a vowel followed by either two consonants, or just one consonants and the end of the word. A better short form considers the patterns VC1C1# + VD# (a single or double consonant, or a digraph at the end of the word) and VCC. VCC can be broken into VCC...# (two or more consonants after a single vowel), VC2 (a duplicate consonant in the middle of the word) and VC1C2 (two different consonants in the middle of the word). In the cases of C1C1 and C2 we consider "ck" to be a double consonant. In addition, the consonant immediately following the vowel cannot be "r". Finally, the patterns VChe#, VCle# and VCre# are not considered. This means that "ache", "catastrophe", "acre", "title" (and even "bicycle" or "treble") don't have short vowel spelling even if they are followed by two consonants. Examples VC1C1# or VD# This patterns consist in a single vowel (V) as the last vowel of the word followed by one consonant (C1), by two identical consonants (C1C1), or by a digraph (D = "ch", "ck", "gh", "ph", "sh", "th"). We also consider "tch". This patterns have very few exceptions. aC1C1# or aD# Conforming words: *as /æ/: attack, can, that, trap *as /ə/: human, local, woman Exceptions: *as /ɔː/: all, small *as /ɒ/: wad, watch *as /ɒ/, /ɔː/ : wash *Only in BrE as /ɑː/, /æ/ : photograph, staff So-called long sound with short sound spelling: */eɪ/: bass (music) eC1C1# or eD# Conforming words: *as / /: dress, egg, fresh, get, hotel, stretch, when *as /ə/: even, level, problem *Plural as /ɪ/: buses, gases *Third person as /ɪ/: focuses, forces *Past tense as /ɪ/: avoided, marketed Superseding rules *Plural as /iː/: analyses, theses *Silent past tense: stopped, lived iC1C1# or iD# Conforming words: *as stressed /ɪ/: did, fill, kit, this, until *as unstressed /ɪ/: tennis, victim, visit *as /ə/: council, pupil oC1C1# or oD# Conforming words: *as /ɒ/: job, lot, not, upon *as /ə/: bottom, person, symbol Exceptions: *as /ʌ/: son *Only in AmE, as /ɔː/, /ɒ/ : across, alcohol So-called long sound with short sound spelling: */əʊ/: control, gross, roll uC1C1# or uD# Conforming words: *as /ʌ/: but, luck, run, strut *as /ə/: focus, minimum, useful Exceptions: *as /ʊ/: full, put VCC This pattern consists in a single vowel followed by two (or more) consonants. This pattern has many exceptions, but the conforming words are in the majority. The next three patterns are equivalent to it, and they have different degrees of reliability. aCC Conforming words: *as /æ/: and, angry, battle, c'a'''lculator, trapped *as /ə/: account, admire, important Exceptions: *as /ɔː/: also, walk *as /ɒ/: wander, wasp *as /ɒ/, /ɔː/ : want *as /ɑː/: palm, father *Only in BrE as /ɑː/, /æ/ : giraffe, last So-called long sound (/eɪ/) with short sound spelling *Magic e with two consonants: strange *Others: ancient, April, chamber eCC Conforming words: *as / /: *as /ə/: Exceptions: iCC Conforming words: *as /ɪ/: *as /ə/: Exceptions: oCC Conforming words: *as /ɒ/: *as /ə/: Exceptions: uCC Conforming words: *as /ʌ/: *as /ə/: Exceptions: VCC...# Two or more consonants at the end of the word (excluding a double consonant or a digraph). aCC...# Conforming words: *as /æ/: and, exact *as /ə/: important, thousand, thousandth Exceptions: *as /ɔː/: talk, walk, warm, warmth *as /ɒ/: wasp *as /ɒ/, /ɔː/ : want *as /ɑː/: palm *Only in BrE as /ɑː/, /æ/ : command, last eCC...# This pattern (probably) does not have exceptions. In the few cases that "e" can be pronounced /ɪ/ it also can be pronounced / / or /ə/. Conforming words: *as / /: attempt, help, next, project *as /ə/: different, eleventh, government Partial exceptions: */ɪ/ or /ə/: forest, honest */ɪ/ or /ə/ or / /: interest iCC...# Conforming words: *as /ɪ/: conflict, drink, exist, film, lift, link, list, mint, politics, print, risk, think *as /ə/: Exceptions: *as /aɪ/: behind, child, design, find, high, kind, mind, pint oCC...# Conforming words: *as /ɒ/: *as /ə/: Exceptions: uCC...# Conforming words: *as /ʌ/: *as /ə/: Exceptions: VC2 Here a double consonant follows the vowel, but not at the end of the word, because that situation is considered in [VC1[C1#]]. This pattern has very few exceptions. aC2 Conforming words: *as /æ/: battle, rabbit, traffic, trapped *as /ə/: accept, affect, machine, totally Exceptions: *Only in BrE as /ɑː/, /æ/ : giraffe *Silent "a": basically, typically eC2 Conforming words: *as / /: intelligence, professional, reckon, tennis *as /ə/: excellent, intellectual, necessary *as /ɪ/: dessert, eccentric, effect, essential Exceptions: *stressed /ɪ/ (spelling anomaly): pretty iC2 Conforming words: *as /ɪ/: *as /ə/: Exceptions: oC2 Conforming words: *as /ɒ/: *as /ə/: Exceptions: uC2 Conforming words: *as /ʌ/: *as /ə/: Exceptions: VC1C2 Here the vowel is followed by two different consonants, but we don't consider words ending in "he" (as "ache"), "le" (as "title") or "re" (as "acre"). aC1C2 Conforming words: *as /æ/: angry, c'a'lculator *as /ə/: admire Exceptions: *as /ɔː/: also *as /ɒ/: wander *as /ɑː/: father So-called long sound (/eɪ/) with short sound spelling *Magic e with two consonants: strange *Others: ancient, April, chamber eC1C2 Conforming words: *as / /: Dec'e'mber, method, question, sel'e'ction *as /ə/: abs'e'nce, concentration, frequ'e'ncy, suddenly *as /ɪ/ or /ə/: acknowl'e'dge, cel'e'brate, impl'e'mentation, pass'e'nger *as /ɪ/: d'e'cline, '''e'xceed, respond So-called long sound with short sound spelling: */iː/: secret Silent e: *something iC1C2 Conforming words: *as /ɪ/: *as /ə/: Exceptions: oC1C2 Conforming words: *as /ɒ/: *as /ə/: Exceptions: uC1C2 Conforming words: *as /ʌ/: *as /ə/: Exceptions: Summary This table shows all the patterns that are part of the short vowel spelling.